U. S. Government
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2022
Editor(s)
Amirala S. Pasha
ISBN
978-3-031-08162-0
Publisher
Springer Cham
Language
en-US
Abstract
In the United States, the three branches of government at the federal and state level—legislative, executive, and judiciary—all produce law. The law takes the form of statutes enacted by the legislature, regulations promulgated by executive agencies, and opinions issued by the judiciary. These three sources of law are deeply interrelated and must be considered together. The United States is also a common law country, which means that the judicial opinions or cases noted above are more than mere interpretations of statutes, but rather constitute the law themselves even when decided in the absence of a statute. Earlier cases with similar facts serve as precedent or legal authority for later cases. The power of precedent derives from the hierarchical and territorial nature of the court system. Only cases from courts higher in the judicial hierarchy in a particular territorial jurisdiction are binding on lower courts in that jurisdiction. All other cases are simply persuasive.
Recommended Citation
Stephen M. Donweber,
U. S. Government
,
in
Laws of Medicine: Core Legal Aspects for the Healthcare Professional
3
(Amirala S. Pasha ed.,
2022).
Available at:
https://doi.org/https://doi-org.ezproxy.bu.edu/10.1007/978-3-031-08162-0
